Hola from the Guatemala team!

The last week was very exciting for everyone participating in our projects! The Guatemala community was very welcoming towards us. When we arrived we were able to express a mutual gratitude with the villagers for their willingness to let us be of assistance as well as willingness to allow us to be a part of their culture. The people are kind, gentle, and just about as sweet as the mangoes!

We have been able to work together not only with the community but with each other to keep up with the greatly anticipated projects. We have finished painting the schoolhouse (where many of the students were eager to participate), while unloading the playground supplies we were able to show the Guatemalan men that our women are full of North American girl power (just kidding). But really. We were able to unload and paint the play set which has been successfully put together. The kids couldn’t have been more excited, it took having a fiesta to get them to not play with some of the equipment!

The fiesta was an amazing experience especially because we were able to get an authentic Guatemalan party thrown by members from a volunteer group in Guatemala City that wouldn’t have ever come to this village but because they heard of our work and our arrival they drove 3 hours just to perform for our “little broom” Lasesiovitas. The people have expressed countless thanks towards us but little do they know how much of a blessing they are to us.

Saturday we were able to learn how to build the stoves that we are going to be putting in some of the people’s homes. It’s incredible how so much can come from such a small amount of material but make such a huge impact on the multiple generations of families that are living in these homes. We learned how the women make their corn tortillas and after many failed attempts and one dropped dough tortilla, some of us got the hang of it.

Sunday morning we were able to walk to an authentic farmer’s market where the entire community comes together to participate in on every Thursday and Sunday to buy their produce and materials needed to provide for their families for the coming week. It was exciting walking through shops with bright fabric, the smell of fresh tortillas tickling our senses, being able to experience this firsthand also really made us appreciate the cleanliness of our grocery stores back home.

Through our home visits, cementing, and installation of the stoves we have been able to really come together. We have been working together as a unit to get things done so much more efficiently with the help of the people here. Seeing their investment makes it easier to make our team want to work that much harder to help improve their lives long-term.

Many more stories to come, but for now, adios!

Te amo,

Guatemala Team 2015